Mariah Carey is 'optimistic' about her mental health battle

Mariah Carey has given her fans an update on her mental health and insists she is overcoming her bipolar II diagnosis by having an "optimistic" outlook.

The 'Hero' hitmaker revealed in April that she is living with bipolar II and is taking medication and having therapy to alleviate the condition, which affects her mood, her sleep pattern and her day-to-day life.

Mariah has assured her fans she is doing well and will not let the bouts of depression dominate her life.

In an interview on UK TV show 'Lorraine' - on which she announced three UK shows as part of her European Christmas tour - she shared: "The thing that some people don't realise, before all this started, we are all just people. Everybody has their own stuff that they deal with, grew up dealing with, just any type of adversity that you have to overcome. We all go through things and that's part of life. The main thing is to stay hopeful and optimistic, I think."

Mariah - who has seven-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with ex-husband Nick Cannon - was overwhelmed by all the support she received from her fans all over the world when she took the brave decision to go public with her bipolar, 17 years after she was first diagnosed.

In her interview with PEOPLE in which she told the world she was living with the condition, Mariah admitted she had been living in "denial and isolation" before going public.

She said: "I didn't want to believe it. I was so terrified of losing everything I convinced myself the only way to deal with this was to not deal with this. Until recently I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me. It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn't do that anymore. I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love - writing songs and making music."